<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Tender by aikrm</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30067080">Tender</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/aikrm/pseuds/aikrm'>aikrm</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood and Injury, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000, mentions of past sexual assault as it is in the anime</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 18:14:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,637</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30067080</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/aikrm/pseuds/aikrm</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Armin receives a small injury while training, but is anxious about his chest being touched after what happened when he was disguised as Historia.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mikasa Ackerman &amp; Armin Arlert, Mikasa Ackerman/Armin Arlert</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>86</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Tender</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Armin had somehow managed to do it again.</p><p>Ever since he enlisted in the cadet corps, and then the scouts three years after that, his physical weaknesses and general clumsiness had caused him countless injuries. Great and small, some just barely warranting treatment, some threatening to take his life, they landed him in the infirmary time and time again. The medics knew him on a first name basis by now, and could pick him out despite seeing hundreds of soldiers a day. Armin was a regular there as far as they were concerned.</p><p>He wished he could say he didn’t mind, but it was embarrassing knowing that his friends had never visited that room nearly as often as he had to. The young soldier often felt weak and useless, and it seemed like every time he landed himself in there it was just the confirmation of his insecurities that he didn’t need.</p><p>ODM practice, they’d been doing sessions a lot more often since they joined Levi’s squad, especially now that the mission to retake wall Maria was approaching. The blond found himself increasingly nervous about it everyday, seeing his hometown for the first time in half a decade, ever since he ran away from that day with Eren and Mikasa, the three of them robbed of everything but each other.</p><p>Maybe the unsettling anxiety from it all was what caused his hand to slip. Either way, that was how he found himself on the floor with an unrelenting stinging pain over his right pectoral. The branch he’d fallen from wasn’t that high, but the impact of landing on his stomach after his anchors gave out and his blade swiped a gash through his chest left him dazed. His body weight must have been applying pressure to the wound though, because he didn’t feel too much wetness from any blood.</p><p>People were calling his name, and Armin heard the familiar zipping noise of anchors being fired and then reeled in. He used his arms to lift his torso off of the ground, and pushed himself up into a sitting position. He would prefer if he wasn’t laying flat on his face when they first saw him. Bringing a hand up to his chest, he held onto the wound in an attempt to stem some of the bleeding.</p><p>Before he could even register that she’d arrived, Mikasa scooped Armin up into her arms, looking him over and grimacing when she saw the injury in question.</p><p>The boy was planning on protesting at this, the girl was too strong and often carried himself and Eren off when they were injured or if the brunette was causing a fight again. It was a habit of hers, and the blond wouldn’t expect her to think it was wrong. It wasn’t, after all, she was just trying to help, but it made Armin feel even weaker in comparison. Especially in front of other members of their squad, despite the fact that they didn’t seem to pay much attention to the way she effortlessly hoisted him up off the ground.</p><p>“Armin.” Mikasa observed his facial expressions with concerned haste. “Your chest, did you cut yourself open?”</p><p>Armin nodded, still grasping at the open wound. The blood that had seeped into his shirt was starting to spread to his shoulder, maybe it was more severe a cut than he’d initially thought. “I’m okay, I just need to bandage it, that’s all.”</p><p>Mikasa had started carrying him in the direction of the cabin, assuring the others that she could handle Armin’s injuries by herself.</p><p>That was right, they weren’t at the barracks where an infirmary and a Doctor was waiting for them should the blond screw up, they were at the cabin. The same secluded cabin they were at a couple months ago, before the altercations with the government that caused their entire regiment to have to hide away temporarily, even going so far as to having an all out war with the military police and needing to disguise himself as someone else along with Jean.</p><p>They were here again so they’d have somewhere to practice Eren’s hardening abilities, since the mission to plug the hole in wall Maria was approaching fast, the commander had insisted on it. Still, it didn’t mean they couldn’t handle a small laceration such as this. All soldiers knew enough basic first aid to be able to deliver it to their wounded comrades on the battlefield, where they didn’t have the luxury of stopping by at the infirmary.</p><p>The two arrived back at the house after a short but rather uncomfortable walk, even the slightest jostling of his body causing him pain. Armin had insisted on just binding his chest, while Mikasa was adamant that he needed stitches based on how much he was bleeding, and in these cases, the black haired girl was much more stubborn than him.</p><p>Mikasa sat him down on the kitchen table, and if it wasn’t for his small frame, he was sure the cheap wood would have buckled under his weight. She grabbed a couple things from the small cabinet that was mounted on the wall, and Armin couldn’t help the familiar wave of anxiousness in his gut that always erupted when he was about to have his injuries treated.</p><p>The boy had had to get stitches before, a few times. Even so, it still wasn’t something he looked forward to repeating, to say the very least, and it was by no means pleasant. She wasn’t even looking at him, but Mikasa still sensed his unease.</p><p>“I have some analgesic, and I’ll be really gentle.” The taller girl set her equipment down on the table, putting a small white towel down first as to not let the needle get unsterile. “Can you take your shirt off or do you need my help?”</p><p>Armin shook his head, blushing a little under Mikasa’s gentle gaze. He didn’t know why, herself and Eren were the people he should be least shy with. After all, the three of them lived together in the slums for two years after wall Maria fell, they’d seen everything of eachother. The times where one of them would fall ill from the dirty conditions of the warehouse and the lack of enough food, the other two having to work even harder or even steal from unsuspecting citizens to be able to afford medicine. Or the times where one or two of them would break down from the sheer stress and pain of their situation, and whoever was left would be there to comfort them.</p><p>But Armin hadn’t felt the same way about his body since he was disguised as Historia and touched by that man, his chest especially, the act or even the thought of someone touching that area brought back painful memories for him.</p><p>The boy had finished unbuttoning his shirt when Mikasa started to prepare a clean rag and some alcohol, the fabric falling off his shoulders, he could leave his arms in the sleeves for now, and perhaps it would help him feel more covered. “This will sting a bit.” She warned him before pressing the alcohol covered rag onto the gash in his chest and starting to mop up any excess blood that was blocking her view of the wound.</p><p>Armin hissed in pain, his toes curling in his boots and his fingers gripping the edge of the table. Mikasa uttered a quiet ‘Sorry’ before resuming her task. He could feel fingers grazing over his chest, and although his friend’s gentle hands were infinitely different from the pervert’s grimey, rough groping back at the warehouse, he still found his mind occupied with nothing but the memory of that mission. The boy let out a whimper, and to his surprise it seemed like Mikasa noticed the sound that escaped his lips before he did.</p><p>Anyone that didn’t know him could have written it off as a sound of pain or discomfort, after all, someone was dabbing at his open wound with pure alcohol. Mikasa knew the boy well though, she could differentiate between his pained groans and his noises of distress or fear.</p><p>“Armin?” She stopped what she was doing and set the rag down, bending down to meet his eyes, although he didn’t return the eye contact.</p><p>“I’m sorry, it’s just..” He took a deep breath. “My chest.. I- That guy at the warehouse- I just.. tend to think of it, every time someone touches me there..” Armin hung his head in shame, fidgeting with his hands and resisting the urge to get up and retreat to the bedroom or the bathroom, anywhere where he didn’t have to explain his grief to his childhood friend.</p><p>Mikasa took his hand in her own, similar to the way she did back in Trost when he’d told her of Eren’s death. Armin’s mind supplied that thought from nowhere. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to finish it up quickly, but you’re bleeding, so I have to do it now.” She gave his hand one last squeeze before picking up the needle and threading it through the first patch of split skin. It hurt, but Armin found himself looking at her face instead of her hands, and he could feel the needle more than her fingers now, and for that he was glad.</p><p>The procedure took about ten minutes before Mikasa was wrapping a roll of bandages around his chest with tender care, she worked quickly and efficiently, and Armin couldn’t fault her for that. The pain had settled down into more manageable volumes, but more importantly, her hands weren’t lingering over his chest anymore. She smiled at him, packing up the first aid kid and returning it to it’s normal place before patting him gently on the left shoulder.</p><p>“Thank you for trusting me.”</p><p> </p><p><em>END</em>.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I took a small break from writing but I had this stuck in my head and couldn’t stop myself. Apologies in advance.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>